We are delighted to announce that the May Film Tour, organised by access>CINEMA and the Irish Film Institute to coincide with the Bealtaine Festival, will again take place in 2025.
This year the theme of the Bealtaine Festival continues to be Lust for Life, based on Iggy Pop’s iconic punk-era song celebrating life’s dreams and ambitions.
The May Film Tour titles are The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo cinema Paradiso). More information on Both titles can be found below.
May Film Tour Programmers Group
This year we asked some of the cinema-loving audiences from our access CINEMA venues and the IFI’s Wild Strawberries to help us program this year’s Film Tour. We organised a group of volunteers to meet (in person and remotely) over the past few months to work together, to choose one of the titles for this year’s Tour. The group – comprising of volunteers from Droichead Art Centre, Dunamaise Art Centre and Mermaid Art Centre, along with their Wild Strawberry counterparts – chose the title: Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo cinema Paradiso)
Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo cinema Paradiso )
Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore Italy 1988 123 mins Cert: PG
Starring: Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin
Language: Italian
A winner of awards across the world, including: the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar; 5 BAFTA Awards including Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Score; the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival; and many more.
Giuseppe Tornatore’s loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood. Soon, memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the highs and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier.
A CELEBRATION OF YOUTH, FRIENDSHIP, AND THE EVERLASTING MAGIC OF THE MOVIES
Led by Jim Broadbent’s moving performance, The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry is an uplifting tale of self-discovery, redemption and learning to seize the moment. Based on the bestselling book of the same name by award-winning author Rachel Joyce, who also wrote the screenplay, the film is directed by BAFTA winner Hettie Macdonald (Howards End, Normal People).
The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry
Dir: Hettie Macdonald UK 2023 102 mins Cert: PG
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Penelope Wilton and Earl Cave
Language: English
THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY tells the story of a man who leaves his seaside town in South Devon to deliver a message to an old friend.
Harold Fry was never meant to be a hero. He’s an unremarkable man who has failed at all the important things: being a husband, a father and a friend. Now, well into his 60s, he is content to fade quietly into the background of life.
But when Harold learns his friend Queenie is dying, he is moved to act. He leaves home, walking to the post box to send her a letter, until he realises a letter is not enough.
In that moment Harold decides to keep walking, all the way to her hospice, some 500 miles away in Berwick-upon-Tweed: as long as he walks, Queenie must live. Surprising himself as much as his wife Maureen, Harold embarks on a walk of hope, determined to travel the length of England to save his friend.
The screenings are possible because of the support of The Arts Council
